Ian Durrant opens up on Walter Smith's misery

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IAN DURRANT claims Walter Smith stands on the brink of pulling off his greatest achievement with Rangers.

 

The Ibrox coach has given a rare insight into his gaffer's defiant state of mind as he tackles the club's crippling financial crisis.

 

He predicts history will one day portray Smith as the saviour of Rangers - in the same way Fergus McCann was credited with hauling Celtic back from the verge of ruin in the summer of 1994.

 

Durrant's position as Smith's sidekick in the stand has given him a unique insight into what makes the nine-in-a-row boss tick.

 

He describes the 61-year-old as a man on a mission, hellbent on steering the debt-ridden club through the rockiest times in its 135-year history.

 

Durrant said: "Fifteen years ago, Fergus McCann and all the Celtic boys rallied round and saved their club. Walter's on a mission to save Rangers. And if he's at the helm, Rangers will succeed, it's as simple as that.

 

"In a perfect world I think he could have stepped aside two seasons ago after reaching the UEFA Cup Final. Or even last season, when he won the double, if things had gone to plan afterwards.

 

"I thought at the end of last season, after winning the double and getting the league back - which was the most important thing - that would have been the time to bow out.

 

"But he said to us he had unfinished business and now everyone knows what that was. The club's financial situation has given him that spark again. He's got a motivation now to prove we can get through this.

 

"I look at his desire and the fact is, he doesn't need this. He chose to come back when we weren't as strong financially as we had been, so he had to juggle things about.

 

"He brought in Davie Weir, who has been unbelievable, then Ugo Ehiogu and they steadied the ship. It's been a constant battle ever since, though Walter's never complained.

 

"He will hand the club over - whether it's to Coisty, Kenny McDowall and myself or someone else - and it will still be in place.

 

"Getting us through the next six months will be his greatest achievement. And he will do it, because his desire to succeed will take him there. He's a Rangers fan and it's his club."

 

Smith's contract expires in January, along with that of his No2 Ally McCoist, and there have been suggestions that pressure from the bankers could mean the pair are not offered a new deal or will be asked to take a pay cut.

 

Durrant believes that would be a bigger own goal and costlier blunder than anything seen during the global banking crisis. He said: "If anyone tried to move Walter out, they'd be making a big mistake.

 

"I'm not saying no one else could do it, but it's an unsteady ship and slowly but surely the weight on us has been lifted in the past two weeks. You can see a difference in the whole club.

 

"The one thing about the gaffer is he gets the right reaction from players."

 

As Rangers' money problems piled up, Donald Muir from Lloyds Banking Group was crowbarred on to the Rangers board.

 

It was the first visible sign drastic changes were going on behind the scenes and rumours and counter-rumours began to fly around the Ibrox club.

 

To make matters worse, results started to suffer, culminating in back-to-back 4-1 home thrashings in the Champions League by Spanish cracks Sevilla and Romanian minnows Unirea Urziceni. Smith had seen enough and called a crisis council with his trusted coaching staff then his players.

 

Then he went public with a bombshell statement after a league match with Hibs to say the bankers were running Rangers - and all hell broke loose!

 

Lloyds, then Rangers, issued statements saying Smith had got it completely wrong and the club was still in charge of its affairs.

 

But Durrant believes, as far as what was happening on the pitch was concerned, no one can dispute that Smith got it totally right.

 

He said: "The gaffer had to ask the players for one final push and the boys took a lot of belief from him. It's not a nice position when there's talk of redundancies. It leaves a stale feeling.

 

"You know there are other people at the club who rely on you. People who have been working here for a long time could lose their jobs.

 

"Football isn't their job but they are affected by what happens on the park. We know there's a recession on but we have to get on with it. It's the same with the gaffer.

 

"Obviously, he's the manager of Rangers but he's also a supporter and he was hurting. There were times when he was low - we've all been low.

 

"You want to get on with your job and play the game, but everything that was happening with the club was making the front page of the papers rather than the back. That got to him a bit.

 

"You can hear the tone of his voice change and you know he's hurting. But he sees Coisty, myself and Kenny as a younger group and he sees us being bubbly round about him and he gets a lift from it. He's surrounded himself by good indians.

 

"He'd never come in and let you see him at rock bottom though, he's too proud a man to do that. But since he said his thing about the bank, and it's come out in the open, there's been a freshness about the place.

 

"For two or three weeks the staff were tip-toeing on egg shells and we didn't know what was happening. We were all hearing the banks were going to pull the plug and it creates a bit of uncertainty.

 

"I'm not making excuses for the Sevilla or Unirea games, but there was uncertainty which may have affected the players.

 

"I hope it didn't because that's what we're here to deal with, so we sat down and talked about it.

 

"We weren't playing well and yet we knew we had a good group of players - guys who had bent over backwards for us the previous season by winning a double.

 

"Walter just wondered aloud if that uncertainty was causing problems and since then I think we've played our best stuff of the season against Hibs, Dundee United and Unirea. They were great open games."

 

Durrant has seen the pressure mount on the other side of Glasgow too as Tony Mowbray has come under the microscope in his new job at Celtic.

 

At times, Mowbray has questioned the quality of his players and given them an ultimatum to shape up or ship out. That's an approach Durrant never expects to see from Smith.

 

He added: "It's the hardest job in the world. I've known Celtic boys from years ago and we all know it's the same pressure as being at Manchester United, Arsenal, Chelsea and Liverpool.

 

"You have to win every game. Every minute now, you're being scrutinised. Walter never criticises the players publicly. He takes the responsibility, he's old school that way. In football, you always say 'get the dressing room on your side' and he has that.

 

"He has one last piece of unfinished business and I'll be damned if he doesn't do it."

 

 

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